Africa: Optimism At World Water Day Conference

22 March 2011

Cape Town — lf the world's population now lives in cities, and this figure is expected to balloon to more than 70 percent by 2050, but in Africa, where the rate of urbanization is highest, the provision of clean drinking water has been shrinking steadily since 1990.

"The ability of [African] governments to service urban water has been declining, and I'm not even talking about sanitation," said Alioune Badiane, Regional Director for Africa and the Arab States at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN HABITAT).

UN HABITAT was one of the organizers of the World Water Day Conference with the theme, Water and Urbanization: Responding to the Urban Challenge, which concluded on 22 March in Cape Town, South Africa.

The African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), another of the conference organizers, welcomed the opportunity to bring together over a thousand representatives from government, civil society, and the private sector.

Julia Bucknall of the World Bank told the conference that diarrhoea, one of the major causes of which is poor sanitation, killed more children than AIDS, malaria and TB combined. "These challenges are not going away, they're going to get worse," she warned.

Delegates highlighted the need for better collaboration and communication between sectors, especially in developing countries, to improve access to water and deal with waste in urban areas, particularly informal settlements. They also discussed access to clean, affordable water and sanitation as a basic human right, and the need to scale up efforts in these areas.

"In the slums of Nairobi, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the bustees of Kolkata, and even right here in Cape Town's townships, the provision of safe water and basic sanitation to the urban poor is a critical challenge facing the world today," said Dr Joan Clos, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN HABITAT.

More than 100,000 households in Cape Town, a popular international tourist destination, lack basic sanitation, according to a 2010 report by Water Dialogues, an international research process.

Technological innovation and public-private partnerships can provide solutions to the challenges of water and sanitation in an environment of rapid urbanization, but delegates agreed that it would mean throwing out old models and adopting a new, multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach, as well as overcoming a lack of leadership and capacity.

Relevant Links

·         Water

·         Sustainable Development

"The water business has become complex, and requires not only critical mass, but highly qualified individuals," said Mbangiseni Nepfumbada, Acting Director General of Policy and Regulation at South Africa's Department of Water Affairs during a panel discussion on water in Southern Africa.

Despite the challenges, a mood of optimism and excitement prevailed at the conference. "Particularly in Africa, societies are continually adapting," said Ania Grobicki, Executive Secretary of the Global Water Partnership. "The creativity and innovation that we see here [in Africa] is phenomenal."

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]

WeBlog | Communications Consortium Media Center

WeBlog | Communications Consortium Media Center

Provision of safe water, sanitation still a critical challenge for Africa

By John Kasozi ON March 23,2011 the World marked Water Day

Yesterday the world marked Water Day yesterday. However, the provision of safe water and basic sanitation to the urban poor is still a big challenge for most governments in Africa.

This year’s theme, ‘Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge’, aims at encouraging governments, organisations, communities and individuals to actively manage the provision of urban water.

Water, good sanitation and hygiene are vital components of sustainable development and the alleviation of poverty.

“Sustainable urban development begins with health and dignity. These fundamental conditions of our humanity can only be met with sustained investment in water and sanitation,” says Joan Clos, undersecretary-general of the United Nations, Executive Director, UN HABITAT.

Children drawing water from a borehole built by World Vision at Namakokolo

Half of the world’s population of 3.3 billion people today lives in towns and cities. That figure is projected to reach two-thirds in little over a generation from now. And half of that increase will be in the slums and squatter settlements of towns and cities in developing countries.

Today 71.9% of urban Africans live in slums, 46% in Asia and a little over 30% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Clos notes that in slums and townships, the provision of safe water and basic sanitation to the urban poor is a critical challenge facing the world today.

“We need more than ever before, concerted action by the international community to help countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to water and sanitation,” Clos adds.

He says that after all, safe drinking water and basic sanitation must be placed at the very top of the poverty eradication and the sustainable development agendas.

The poor cities receive the worst services, paying up to 50 times more per litre of water than their richer neighbours because they usually have to buy it from private vendors.

With only five years to the MDGs deadline, managing water and sanitation in the rapidly growing African cities and towns, is an urgent priority for the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW). Most African countries are still lagging behind in meeting the millennium targets.

The water day celebrations were hosted in Cape Town, South Africa. The event was a joint collaboration of UN-Water, AMCOW, the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT).

Observance of the day was an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The United Nations General Assembly designated March 22 of each year as the World Day for Water. It has been observed since 1993.

In Uganda, the government in November last year, launched the Water and Sanitation Development Facility (WSDF). The facility is a mechanism for funding water and sanitation investments in small towns and rural growth centres in 25 districts. These are Hoima, Buliisa, Masindi, Nakasongola, Nakaseke, Kiboga, Kibaale, Luwero, Mityana and Masaka.

Others are Mpigi, Mubende, Mukono, Buikwe, Kayunga, Kalangala, Wakiso, Buvuma, Gomba, Kiryandongo, Kyankwanzi, Butambala, Bukomansimbi, Kalungu and Lwengo.

Turn to Page 31 The major objective of the facility is to improve the socio-economic situation for people living in small towns and rural growth centres through provision of safe, adequate, reliable and accessible water supply.

Substantial investments have been made in the last decade, to provide rural and urban water as well as sanitation services.

In 1999 a National Water Policy was formulated. A comprehensive water strategy was also developed after studies were done on rural water supply and sanitation; urban water supply and sanitation; water for production and water resources management.

Uganda now has a Water Supply Atlas, 2010 which provides information on water supply coverage, functionality and distribution to stakeholders.

According to the atlas, Kampala is the largest Area of the National Water and Sewerage Corporations operations and accounts for 65 % of its revenue. The area about 1,357,450 people or 85 % of the urban population in Kampala and also 142,360 people in Mukono Town Council and Kira subcounty in Wakiso district. 

General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right

28 July 2010 – Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared today, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.
The 192-member Assembly also called on United Nations Member States and international organizations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for everyone.
The Assembly resolution received 122 votes in favour and zero votes against, while 41 countries abstained from voting.
The text of the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.
Today’s resolution also welcomes the UN Human Rights Council’s request that Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, report annually to the General Assembly as well.
Ms. de Albuquerque’s report will focus on the principal challenges to achieving the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, as well as on progress towards the relevant Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs, a series of targets for reducing social and economic ills, all by 2015, includes the goals of halving the proportion of people who cannot reach or afford safe drinking water and halving the number who do not have basic sanitation.
In a related development, Ms. de Albuquerque issued a statement today after wrapping up a nine-day official visit to Japan in which she praised the country for its nearly universal access to water and sanitation and for its use of innovative technologies to promote hygiene and treat wastewater.
But the Independent Expert said she was shocked that some members of the Utoro community near Kyoto, where Koreans have been living for several generations, still do not have access to water from the public network.
“People are also not connected to the sewage network, despite the fact that the surrounding area is largely covered by sewage service,” she said. “When floods occur, as happened one year ago, the lack of sewage and proper evacuation of grey water result in contamination of the environment, including with human faeces, posing serious health concerns.
“I am also worried that water and sanitation are extremely expensive for some people living in Utoro, who reportedly do not have a right to receive a pension.”